Amazon v. Netflix, 5 Hot Cars, Gambling and Taxes: The Street

Here are some of the stories making news in today's report from The Street, a leading financial news and information site:

Amazon Vs. Netflix: Jeff Bezos Could Squash Reed Hastings Like a Bug

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- In case you missed it, Amazon.com (AMZN) stole the rights to "Downton Abbey" reruns from Netflix (NFLX) last week. In and of itself, this is not a big deal, but don't ignore the news. Reed Hastings isn't. And, if he is, quite frankly, he's foolhardy. To read the story, click here: http://ow.ly/hoxP0

5 Hot Cars in January, Starting with Ford Fusion

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DETROIT (TheStreet) -- January was a big month for hot cars, led by the Ford (F) Fusion, which showed a 65% sales gain, finally managing to fulfill its potential as dealers had sufficient inventory available.

In recent months, Ford has underperformed in the critical mid-sized sedan category because dealers didn't have enough Fusions. The lack of cars held back overall Ford sales since Fusion is generally Ford's top-selling car. With 22,399 sales in January, Fusion was the fourth best-selling U.S. car and the sixth best-selling vehicle, and Ford sales gained 22%.

But it wasn't just the Fusion that enabled a 14% industry sales jump in January and a seasonally adjusted annual sales rate of 15.3 million light vehicles.

The country is full of hot new cars, from the two that lead secondary brands Cadillac and Buick to the best symbol of Volkswagen growth in the U.S. to the new Toyota Avalon.

Auto sales were so strong in January that of all the 16 models sold by Chrysler, only one currently produced vehicle, the Dodge Caravan, showed a decline in sales, down 39% to 4,965.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- If you are a frequent visitor to the local track or casinos it is important to keep good records of your gambling winnings and losses. To deduct losses you must be able to provide receipts, tickets, statements or other records. If you play the lottery, keep your losing tickets. If you play the ponies, keep the daily track programs and all your losing tickets. And make sure the tickets you are saving don't have footprints on them!